Electric cash and parcel transfer system



4 SheetsSheet 1.

Patented Mar. 23, 1886.

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(No Model.)

G. I. GREEN.

ELECTRIC CASH AND PARGEL TRANSFER SYSTEM.

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 2.

- G. F. GREEN.

ELECTRIC CASH AND PARGEL TRANSFER'SYSTEM.

No. 338,663. Patented Mar. 23, 1886.

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, 6607901 'w eew (No Model.) 6 4 sheets-sh et 3. G. F. GREEN.

ELECTRIC CASH AND PARGEL TRANSFER SYSTEM.

No. 338,663. Patented Mar. 23, 1886.

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ELECTRIC GASH AND PARGEL TRANSFER SYSTEM. No. 338,663. Patented Mar. 23,1886.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE F. GREEN, OF KALAMAZOO, MIOFL, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, AND OLIVER S.KELLY AND SOL J. HOUOK, BOTH OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO.

ELECTRIC CASH AND PARCEL TRANSFER SYSTEM.

SPEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 338,663, dated March23, 1886.

Application filed February 25, 1854. Serial No. 121,953. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE F. GREEN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Kalamazoo, in the county of Kalamazoo and State of Michigan,have invented new and useful Improvements in Electric Cash and ParcelTransfer Systems, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a system for trans- 1O fering parcels or cashfrom one part of a store to another by means of a car propelled overatrack by electrical force; and the invention consists in means fortaking't-he receptacles from hooks by which they are suspended as I 5the car passes the same, and in means for transferring the receptacleson the return-trip of the car from the car to devices applied to receivethe same, as hereinafter particularly described, and illustrated in theaccompany- -2o ing drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of a carwith an electric motor attached thereto. Fig. 2 is a bottom viewthereof. Fig. 3 is a side elevation thereof, showing my inventionapplied thereto. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the track arranged withreference to the counters and the cashiers desk. Fig. 5 is a side Viewof a portion of the track, showing one part of my invention appliedthereto. Fig.6 is a side 0 elevation of the track, showing the manner ofmaking and breaking the circuit. Fig. 7 is an end view of one of therotating armatures; and Fig. 8 shows detail views of the commutator androller-brushes.

A track, a a, of suitable conducting material, is supported bybrace-rods b, extending from shelving b,arranged in any suitable mannerabout the room in which the system is to be used, and will be placed inany position to suit the location of the counters and the cashiers desk0, and to be within convenientreach of the person desiring to use thesame. The car is represented as applied to a spread track, but such isnot absolutely necessary, as the two rails may be placed together andinsulated from each other by any well-known method.

In the present instance I have illustrated the track as arranged toserve asthe electrical circuit,with the brace-supports Z) and ties bproperly insulated by blocks 1/, of wood or other suitable material,where they join the tracks. I have also illustrated a car mounted uponwheels A, held in their bearings by roller A in spring-plate B, and alsoupon driving-wheels ff, having non-conducting peripheries, secured totheir respective shafts c e, which are actuated by two rotating electricarmatures, f, which receive their motion from electro-magnets 9 thatsurround them. These magnets are of the type known as fieldmagnets, andmay be of any construction suitable for revolving the armatures. Thebatteries may be located at any convenient place in the room in whichthe transfer system is operated,and may be of any well-known andapproved form suitable for the purpose, or when convenient a dynamo maybe used. The circuit from the batteries or dynamo connects with thetrack a a, with the positive conducting-wire a attached to the rail aand the negative wire a to the rail a, or vice versa, for the purpose oftransmitting the current from the rail, through suitable brushes andother intermediate means, to the field-magnets, which will then causethe armatures and the wheels f, connected therewith to revolve, andpropel the car in either of two directions, according as the directionof the current is changed by a suitable switch. Aswitch suitable for thepurpose is composed of the sliding bar 'L',attaehed by screws or othersuitable means to the under side of the frame of the car, and havingpivoted to one end the cop per levers o c", which turn on pivots17,projecting from block 12, and are pressed by springs 0 into contactwith the points '20 w of the circuit-wiref as they are thrown from oneof said points to the other by the movement of the sliding bar, so as toreverse the circuit.

The brushes (1 d have rods d d, which slide loosely through openingstherefor made in the plates (1 d,which are secured by screws or othersuitable means to some part of the ear, the said rods sliding verticallyand being free to swing in said plates, the longer rods, in addition topassing through the said plates, also passing through guide-arms (1 d Ifde sired, the shorter arms might be extended and passed through similarguide-arms, but such is not necessary.

The current passes from the rail through brushes (1 to plate (1 thencethrough arm (1 to wire f, thence, to pivot 22', thence through lever 22to point 20, thence through wire f diagonally across to point w, thencethrough wire f to field magnet g, from thence through wire f to plate cthrough the same to wire f, thence to magnet g, thence through wire f,thence to point w", thence through wire f diagonally across to point w,thence through lever 22 and pivot 12' to wire f from thence throughplate 2" and rollers Z Z to commutators g, thence through both ends ofthe rotating armature to lower side of commutator, through brush-rollersZ 1 to plate '6, thence across through plate Z to plate t, thencethrough brush-rollers m n to commutator g, from thence throughbrush-rollers m n and plate 6 to plate d, to top plate, d, then to brushcl and to track.

The commutatorsggare formed with breaks or gaps h h, arranged at rightangles to each other, as shown, so that the full force of the batteriesmay be applied to one armature at a time while the gaps are passing thebrushrollers. These rollers are located one in ad Vance of the other, sothat the current shall not take or burn metal from the commutator as therollers pass from one side of the gap to the other in reversing thecircuit from one side of the rotating armature-head to the other.

The shafts e of the rotating armatures, at their inner ends, are angularand fit into a coupling,

i so that the two will be connected together in order that one enginewill pull the other over dead-points to assist the car in starting, theinner ends of shafts having their bearings in the journal -box ifastened by screws or other means to some part of the car-frame, and thesaid coupling i fitting in the forked end of said journal-box. Theplates i i of the brush-rollers are connected to the car-frame byscrews, and a spring, i bears against the c011- necting-plate 1 so as toequalize the pressure of the said roller-brushes on the two commutators.lVhen the current is reversed to move the car in the opposite direction,the current passes through the field-magnets, but in the reversedirection to that already described, as will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art.

The car moves in the direction that the switch bar 2' is moved. The bar2' is moved through a lever, n, which is connected at its lower end tothe bar and at its upper end to the connecting-neck m of the arms on m,which are curved, as shown, and extend in opposite directions, and aresupported from a bracket, 0, by means of a bolt, m passed looselythrough the neck m, so as to permit the said arms and lever to rock. Thearms may be braced by rods m and they, together with the lever, stand atan inclination, as shown, so that one arm will always be higher than theother, in order that it may strike against a tripping device, inwhichever direction the car may be moving, so that when it strikes saidtripping device the arm coming in contact therewith will be depressedand the lever moved so as slide the bar 1', and through it shift thelevers one nearer one rail than the other, so that "when the car movesin one direction the arm m will strike-the tripper and the switch-baribe moved so as to reverse the circuit and the 7 direction of themovement-of the car.

In order to break the circuit and hold the car at rest at the cashiersdesk, I pivot at s s to blocks b at one side of the the track, so as tobe disconnected from the circuit, an inclined frame or bar, q, in suchmanner that it may be tilted or rocked, the said incline bar normallybeing above the track, so that as the car runs upon the same by reasonof its. -momentum the brushes (1 will be elevated above the track andthe circuit thus broken,

when the car will remain at rest till the cashier tilts the bar, so asto lower it far enough to permit the brushes to again comeincontact withthe track, and thus close the circuit for the further movement of thecar. The tilting of the incline bar is effected by the cashier pullingon the cord 1", which is connected with the arm 1, attached to thetilting bar, as shown in Fig. 5. As soon as the cashier releases thecord r a spring, t, secured at one end to the block b and bearing at itsother end against the tilting bar, restores the latter to its formerposition. .After the cashier has emptied the car of its contents herestores the car to thetrack in the manner already described,-so thatthe car will be in position to move onward on its trip when the circuitis closed by a salesman.

The cars are constructed to carryany desired number of parcel holders orreceptacles x. The tracks a a are provided with parcelholder, supportsor hooks y and receiver or suspension-hooks y anda trip, 2, at alldesirable points, and the car is provided with a lift-hook, z. When thesalesman desires to communicate with the cashier to send money and getchange, he puts the money into the receptacle a2, and also a tag withthe name of I 13 the salesman and amount of sales marked thereon, andthen suspends the receptacle from the hook 1/. He then by suitable meansestablishes the circuit so as to bring the car to him, and after it haspassed the suspended receptacle and been reversed the hook on the carlifts the receptacle from the suspensionhook and carries it to thecashiers desk, and on its way thither lifts such other receptacles asmay be suspended from the other hooks and carries them to the cashiersdesk. The cashier, after emptying the receptacles, hangs them on theparcel-holder supports or hooks 0,

(one of which is provided for each salesman,) pivoted to a cross-beam,0*, suspended by an arm, 0 from the car-frame. The hooks 0' and thehooks y will extend outward such distances that each hook 3/ will takeonly one receptacle from the hooks c as the car'passes.

On the return of the car from the cashier the series of receptacles aredeposited on their suspension-hooks y by the heels of the hooks cstriking their respective trips 2, whereby each hook c is tilted so asto release the receptacles, which will be caught by the hooks 3/.

A stop-block, extends upward from the beam 0", directly under thecar-rail, so that if the car should jump the track the said block willstrike the rail and throw the car back to the track.

As means suitable for establishing and breaking the circuit, there maybe employed a copper plate, y secured to the under side of the counter,and a copper wire, y, suspended by non-conducting loops y from thecounter beneath said copper plate 3 the said plate being connected by awire with the track, and the wire 3 with the battery. By pressing thewire against the plate the circuit will be established, and by breakingthe contact the circuit will be broken.

There need be only one battery used, as the copper plate will extendalong the under surface of the entire counter, and so will the wirewhich is suspended beneath the plate. Such being the case, the pressureof the wire into contact with the copper plate at any point throughouttheir length will cause the circuit to be closed at such point ofcontact and the current established between the rail and battery, as isobvious to those skilled in the art.

In addition to providing the car with the lever n and arms m m, theremay be provided cords 0", which will be connected to the slid ing bar 2'at opposite ends, and will hang down from eyes at the ends of the car,so as to be within easy reach of the salesman. By pulling on this cordthe sliding bar can be moved so as to shift the levers '0 v and changethe direction of the current and movement of the car as readily as bythe swinging lever and tripping devices. It is obvious that both or onlyone of the means may be used on the same car.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. The combinationof a track, a car to travel over the same, an electric motor connectedwith the car and charged through the same, a switch for controlling thedirection of travel of the car, a parcel-holder support located inproximity to said track, and a lift attached to said car adapted toremove the article held by said holder-support as the car travels pastthe same, substantially as described.

2. The combination of a track and a car propelled over the same byelectricity, a parcelholder support connected with the car, a receiversupported in proximity to the track, and a trip to release theparcel-holder from its support to permit its transfer to the saidreceiver, substantially as described.

3. The combination of the track, the car propelled over the same byelectricity, the pivoted hooks c, suspended by a suitable support fromthe car, the hook z, supported from the car, the hooks y 3/, supportedfrom the track, and the trip 2 above the hook 1", substantially asdescribed.

4. The combination of a track, a car to travel over the same, a pivotedparcel-holder support connected with the car, a receiver supported inproximity to the track, and a trip for moving the said pivoted supportto permit the transfer of the parcel-holder therefrom to said receiver,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

GEORGE E. GREEN.

Vitnesses:

JAMES L. NoRms, Jos. L. OooMBs.

